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According to Hinduism, a dead person's body is supposed to be cremated and no memorial should be erected over it.

On the contrary, the body of a dead saint is buried and a memorial (i.e., Brindavan) is constructed over it.

So why are saints buried? What is the need for such a practice?

Say No To Censorship
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    While taking sanyasa a "shraddha" is already performed for the sanyasis.Probably that is the reason for treating them differently. – Rickross Oct 07 '16 at 13:02
  • Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda were cremated but other saints and children are generally buried. – Pinakin Oct 08 '16 at 02:51
  • Not all Hindus are cremated. The 4th varna AFAIK is buried. 2 As for sanyasis:- cremation is the 16th and final samskara for a jIva. A sanyasi is one who, by definition, has forsaken karma. Therefore no further samskArAs/purifications are necessary for them once they have gone through the ritualistic sanyAsa swIkAra. They perform their anushThAnAs as appropriate to their Ashrama and as ordained by their guru. This purifies them on all levels.
    • –  Oct 08 '16 at 13:03
  • The memorial is constructed to mark a centralized place, where people can pay homage, especially during the death anniversary of the saint. – Uday Krishna Oct 08 '16 at 15:01
  • Btw, reverse direction of duplicate @Sarvabhouma – Pandya Feb 04 '18 at 11:52
  • @Pandya If this question is answered first, I should have used it as target but the user answered that question. So, I chose that one as target. – Sarvabhouma Feb 04 '18 at 13:14
  • @ Sarvabhouma I understand your logic for tagging this question as a duplicate. But I find that the community failed to recognize the other as a duplicate when the question was posted. Secondly, My question is quite old with better viewership. The discussions and comments would remain worthless Just because the answer was posted to the newer question. However, I respect the community decision and accept the duplicate tag. But, hope the community understands and use their discrimination wisely. – Ganesh Feb 05 '18 at 03:02
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    Yes, I agree that the community has failed to recognize the duplicate asked later. I am sorry for that. I appreciate the sportsmanship you have shown. – Sarvabhouma Feb 06 '18 at 07:12